Viewers and channels wait on new face of TV

After almost 18 months of review, thousands of pages of submissions, hundreds of newspaper column centimetres and hours and hours of public and private hearings, we will soon find out how the convergence review committee thinks media regulation should look post-2012.

As the most heavily regulated sector of the media industry, the free-to-air television industry has a lot riding on the outcome of this review.

But we’re not the only ones. Every Australian who watches free-to-air TV and supports Australian content could be affected by the committee’s recommendations. At the moment, free-to-air TV networks are operating under a weight of regulations and restrictions imposed on our free services. No other media sector – certainly not “new" media such as the internet and pay TV – works within as many regulatory restrictions as free-to-air TV.

Consider these straws in the wind. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) decides how much advertising the free-to-air TV networks can run and what time of day we must show certain programming. ACMA enforces the factual accuracy and impartiality of our news and current affairs programs. ACMA enforces the accuracy of the electronic program guide information. ACMA will soon be monitoring our ownership and use of sports rights.

Regulating free-to-air TV to this extent may have been appropriate in the days when we were the only significant electronic media game in town. But the media industry has gone through dramatic change since the current regulatory framework was introduced more than 20 years ago.

About two years ago the government recognised that media “convergence" had arrived. It decided commercial TV licence fees set at 9 per cent of gross revenue of all channels (even the fledgling digital channels) were no longer sustainable or justified. Around the world, governments had come to the same conclusion and had reduced the fees paid by the free-to-air broadcasters or cut content obligations, or both.

Predictably, the licence fee rebate has been criticised by some as a handout that has gone straight to the bottom line of the free-to-air networks. Wrong.

The licence fee rebate has “saved" the free-to-air TV networks about $210 million over the past two years. Over that period, the networks have increased their investment in Australian content by $280 million.

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Ten Network
has reinvested every cent of the licence fee rebate back into content, mostly Australian content.

As a result, in 2012 and 2013 Ten will have the strongest Australian content schedule that we’ve had in years, with high-quality productions such as Offspring, Puberty Blues, Reef Doctors, Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms, Underground – The Julian Assange Story and, of course, Neighbours.

In 2010-11, Australia’s commercial free-to-air broadcasters spent $1.23 billion on Australian content. Ask the people running Facebook or Google’s Australian divisions how much they spent on local content in 2010-11. They won’t tell you, but you can bet it is a fraction of the free-to-air broadcasters’ investment.

That investment will continue. Last month, Ten announced the establishment of a creative development unit that will focus on developing new Australian content. Like all free-to-air networks, we know Australians want to watch Australian TV programs.

Although advertising markets are tough at the moment and competition for Australians’ media time has never been more intense, we are not walking away from Australian programming – far from it. We are passionate about Australian content. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year developing it, producing it, promoting it and broadcasting it.

To maintain our commitment to Australian content, we need licence fees that are set at a level that reflects the changing media market and ensures our investment is sustainable.

The convergence review committee has looked at Australian content rules in the free-to-air TV industry, which we believe need to be updated.

Most people would be surprised to learn that we are not allowed to put any local children’s programs on our digital channels even though the ABC has not one, but two digital-only children’s channels. We can’t run Australian documentaries on the digital channels either, which means no high-definition documentaries. These “analogue era" rules have to go.

Ten is the only commercial free-to-air broadcaster that invests in first-release adult drama for a digital channel, with 117 hours of Neighbours on Eleven last year.

Neighbours embodies the reason we have local drama quotas: it reflects Australian culture and lifestyle; it has been a training ground for many talented people on and off-screen for more than 25 years; it employs around 200 people over a full year; it attracts a younger audience; and it showcases Australian production skills globally.

Unfortunately the Australian Content Standard, which sets out the local content rules, was framed well before digital multi-channels arrived.

As a result, because Neighbours is on Eleven and not the main Ten channel, we cannot include it in our drama content obligations.

There have been positive signs that the convergence review committee recognises changes are needed in the Australian content rules and other critical areas. We are hopeful that we will see some constructive recommendations. All media industry players need certainty about the new rules of the game, and we need it urgently.